Synopsis of a meeting with The Lord of the Worm Eaten City
Since no announcement was able to be made I’ll post a brief synopsis of the meeting with the Lord of the Worm Eaten City. Everything posted here is filtered through his point of view.
A combination of deals was offered and accepted by the Lord of Worms. I will let the other party speak for their deal for themselves. I agreed to be the apprentice of the Lord of the Worm Eaten City and learn the Ounish arts of thanatology from him as the former head of the Bureau of Thanatology and Free Essences. It was stipulated beforehand that nothing done will involve breaking the Old Laws or becoming accursed.
Garr and Eyes of Blood, Skin of Tatters are considered an unclean and abominations in his eyes. The Lord of The Worm Eaten City would destroy Garr should the opportunity arise.
The current Gatekeeper is one of the numerous bureaucratic subordinates of the Bureau of Thanatology and Free Essences from when The Lord of the Worm Eaten City was still alive. The Lord of the Worm Eaten City considers The Gatekeeper unworthy of the privilege and mentioned that his name could be found in the records of the department.
He confirmed that Oun had a problem with its afterlife before Hell was created. Hell was meant to fix that problem. The Ounish Worldstriders killed millions to billions of people eradicating the entire population of the world before crafting it into hell. He admits that this was a mistake. He implied a level of remorse that this was done.
The presence of unquiet dead is a sign that a world is in danger of slipping out of primacy and becoming a splinter world. He cited the Empire of Perfect Unity as being in such a danger. It is unknown whether the Dark Mountains is also in danger of this.
He feels that the presence of what he called “greater powers” in the forest, like the Gods of the Empire of Perfect Unity, is very bad and extremely dangerous. “The last time a power was released onto the Forest a spire was destroyed before the situation could be fixed.” He feels that the presence of the Mother of Rag and Bones entrenching herself in the Forest is going to be extremely dangerous for everyone, living and dead.
He feels the Fleshcrafters are far from dead and gone. He is fighting a secret war against them. The Fleshcrafters seek the eradication of essences from existence and wish to consign all of them to non-existence. He feels this is utterly abominable. He has his kingdom because he uses it to hide and shield the souls of others from eradication by the Fleshcrafters. According to him even someone who is a hungry dead can still be returned to the cycle (My rememberence of this is contested by others present). However once a soul is consigned to oblivion it is forever and eternally destroyed, removed from the cycle.
According to Sol, from a private conversation they had he is a member of the Fashionable Aesthetics or if you prefer Dark Aesthete.
From Ghost Tiger: He also stated that he tried to fix Hell but was very upset at his failure to do so. He stated he had extensive knowledge about Ounish items and artifacts and chose not to share it for two reasons: 1. He wishes those he shares with to truly value the information he is giving. 2. He does not trust most Wanderlings because he has seen so many come and go. He wants to ensure that those that earn this knowledge are worthy. He stated very clearly that the bodies act as a conduit for the return of a soul and that he can help “guide” them. He also stated that he had a strong conscious on the matter and that he was in fact trying to do what he thought was the only good possible under the circumstances. He also stated that his physical life expired before he could complete his task and thus he is in his current “condition.” He made no apologies for his current state which appeared, haggard, twisted, and painful.